Abstract
Often, social indicators and caregiver perspective are used to define children’s well-being. This research, part of a multinational qualitative study, sought to understand how children ages 8 to 13 years conceptualize and experience their own well-being. Results revealed several indicators of well-being that fell into six domains: social connectedness, physical health, mastery and agency, safety and security, meaningful access to resources, and meaningful use of time through activity.
Primary Author and Speaker: Barbara Brockevelt
Additional Authors and Speakers: Shana Cerny
The prevailing approach used to understand children’s well-being is through the perspectives of adults and social indicators such as socio-economic status, family structure, mortality rates, and level of education. Only recently have researchers become interested in gathering the perspectives of children directly using quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The multinational qualitative study “Children’s Understandings of Well-being-Local and Global Contexts (CUWB)” and “Children’s Worlds, the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeB)” both seek to collect data on children’s lives, particularly their perceptions of their own well-being. Results of US studies using the Children’s Worlds Survey led to the development of an ecological, relationship-based model of children’s subjective well-being (Lawler, Newland, Giger, Roh & Brockevelt, 2017). However, survey tools are limited in that the categories and measures used employ adult perspectives. Qualitative methods using interviews give voice to children’s perspectives, validate their unique perspectives, and position children as social actors in the research process.
The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand the role of meaningful occupation in the context of an ecological, relationship-based model of children’s subjective well-being. Two research questions were proposed, 1) How do children perceive their everyday experiences and their subjective well-being?, and 2) How does the interplay of child characteristics, the environment and meaningful activity participation influence children’s constructions of well-being? Qualitative data was gathered using the Multinational Qualitative Interview Protocol (Fattore, Fegter, & Hunner-Kreisel, 2014) and coded using grounded theory methodology. Analysis of interviews with 17 children, ages eight to 13 years, resulted in several indicators grouped into six domains – social connectedness, physical health, mastery and agency, safety and security, meaningful access to resources, and meaningful use of time through formal and informal activity. The theoretical model developed as a result, proposes that children’s subjective well-being results from the transformative relationship between the unique attributes of the child, the activities they engage in, and the various contexts of their life experience (Brockevelt, Cerny, Newland & Lawler, 2018). The US team is one of only two sub-groups with occupational therapists on the study team. As such, we bring a unique perspective regarding the relationship between activity and well-being to the wider community of international scholars from sociology, education, psychology, and social work engaged in this project.
The results of this study have broad implications for understanding children’s perceptions of their own well-being. Occupational therapists can apply this knowledge to service provision, particularly at Tier I and Tier II levels, systems of care, and policy development. Services at Tier I and II levels seek to promote health and foster participation in meaningful occupations for the general population and children who are at risk (Bazyk, 2011). While this study attempted to gather perspectives from a diverse group of children, we were limited by the sampling method, which employed the social networks of graduate students involved in the project. Future planned studies seek to gather the perspectives of youth with disabilities and those who have experienced homelessness. In contrast to studies that focus on impairment or deficit reduction, these studies will focus on the attributes of their lives that bring joy and foster well-being.
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Brockevelt, B., Cerny, S., Newland, L., & Lawler, M. (June 4, 2018). Activities within an ecological, relationship-based model of children’s subjective well-being. Child Indicators Research, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-018-9563-2
Fattore, T., Fegter, S., & Hunner-Kreisel, C. (2014). Interview protocol and notes: children’s understandings of well-being: global and local contexts. Stages 1 and 2. Berlin: Author.
Lawler, M. J., Newland, L. A., Giger, J. T., Roh, S., & Brockevelt, B. (2017). Ecological, relationship-based model of children’s subjective well-being: perspectives of 10-year-old children in the United States and ten other countries. Child Indicators Research, 10(1), 1–18.